Planting equipment for delivering seeds into the ground are well known. Generally, the equipment comprises a knife arrangement for creating a trench or furrow into which seeds from a seed source are dropped. The seeds are delivered from the seed source by gravity or pneumatically, and are deposited into the furrow from an opening adjacent the knife arrangement. A packing implement follows behind and closes and compacts the soil over the seeds.
It is common that planting equipment for delivering seeds is used in conjunction with equipment for distributing fertilizer into the soil in proximity to the seeds.
An example of this type of planting equipment is a paired row opener that creates a seed furrow having a central trough with a pair of sloped sidewalls above a row of buried fertilizer. Seeds are delivered from the seed source to the spaced, sidewalls of the seed furrow to create a pair of spaced seed rows above the fertilizer.
Another example of dual material planting equipment for efficiently delivering both fertilizer and seed into furrows in the ground is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,331,907 and 5,396,851 both to Norbert Beaujot. These patents are directed to a planting equipment that employs a side-band opener arrangement The patents describe the general planting process of opening a first furrow in the ground into which fertilizer is deposited and opening a second furrow laterally and vertically spaced from the first into which seed is deposited. Generally, the placement of fertilizer and seed is accomplished by separate material dispensing implements such as knives or discs that are towed across a field by a tractor or suitable vehicle equipped with a supply of fertilizer and seed.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,955,131 issued Oct. 18, 2005 discloses a dual material planting assembly that maintains a constant relative vertical separation between the fertilizer and seed dispensing implements regardless of the depth to which the assembly is set to plant.
Agronomic research indicates that the two furrows should preferably have a lateral separation of approximately 38 mm (1.5 inches) and a vertical spacing of approximately 19 mm (0.75 inches) for optimal germination and growing conditions. Therefore, the material dispensing implements of the planting equipment need to be vertically and horizontally spaced, correspondingly.
Once the fertilizer and seed have been deposited, a packer wheel compresses the soil that has flowed back into the furrows to bury the fertilizer and seed bringing the soil into contact with the seed, which is essential for germination, and sealing the soil surface over the furrows. The depth of the seed and fertilizer placement is measured from the compacted surface left by the packer wheel.
In order to obtain the best placement of the seeds, it is desirable to better control the movement of the seeds into the furrow. Current equipment tends to deliver the seeds at high speed into the furrow with the result that the seeds tend to bounce and tumble within the furrow. A portion of the seeds may land toward the bottom of the furrow in close, undesirable proximity to the fertilizer or at a different planting depth than was intended.